Today at 3 p.m. ET, the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild face-off for Game 6 of their Western Conference Round 1 Stanley Cup playoff series live from the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota.
St. Louis is looking to force a Game 7 on home ice while Minnesota hopes to wrap things up by taking the series at home.
These teams have alternated wins and losses with the Wild taking Game 1 (4-2) final, Game 3 (3-0) and Game 5 (4-1) and the Blues winning in Games 2 (4-1) and 4 (6-1).
This game can be live streamed for free here.
Minnesota took a pitvotal Game 5 of the road from St. Louis on the back of goals by Marco Scandella (2nd of the series) and Nino Niederreiter (2) as well as the first marker of the postseason by Mikko Koivu (power play) and Charlie Coyle.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored his sixth goal of the playoffs in the loss for St. Louis.
Tarasenko has added one assist to tie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (seven helpers) atop the scoresheet with seven points.
The Wild has been paced by its top line of Zach Parise (1-4--5), Jason Pominvlle (2-2--4) and Mikael Granlund (1-3--4).
The Blues are aware its a daunting task, but they're hoping to put together a huge win.
The last thing Minnesota wants to do is have this thing come back to our building," said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, according to NHL.com. "That's the last thing they want. We've got to make sure they get to look that in the eye. That's our goal; just bring it home. That's the whole focus for us. Just bring this thing home, we get a nice rest, and that's the focus."
The Wild knows that the fourth win is always the toughtest to get in a series.
"I'll just keep saying it: We know what the opportunity is," Wild coach Mike Yeo told NHL.com. "We know what's at stake here. Far more important for us is to make sure we're not getting caught up in that. We have to be ready to play a great game tomorrow. That's what it comes down to. Part of it is understanding that we're playing a heck of a hockey team still. It's even comical to think that we would just expect for something to happen. We have to be ready."
In between the pipes, Minnesota turns to Devan Dubnyk and he has allowed 12 goals on 118 shots this series.
St. Louis counters with rookie Jake Allen in the blue paint and he has yielded 10 tallies on 112 shots faced.
The Blues look to force a Game 7 while the Wild hopes to clinch the series on home ice when the puck drops this afternoon live from the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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